This management development article combines research with my own thinking.
I hope you find it interesting and useful.

Most managers have partook in management development programmes early in their managerial careers and consequently believe that they have all the management skills they need. Sadly the older managers get, or the more senior they become, the more uncomfortable they are either in managing recently qualified junior managers with new management skills, or in admitting their need for management development.

The challenge for the organisation therefore is to introduce a range of new innovative management development programmes. This new generation of management development initiatives must have interesting titles, as well as content, they must foster managers self-esteem, they must develop new business skills and they must be linked to organisational change projects or assignments. The better the management development design the more effective they are. And the key to effective management development design is first to make them relevant to participants, no benefit - no interest. The next secret to management development design is to use learning methods that make learning enjoyable and, when linked to experiential learning, effective.

Do not loose sight of the simple fact that the final challenge in making management development acceptable is to demonstrate to senior management that the organisational benefit far outweighs the cost. Senior management have many potential management development initiatives to consider and these are in contention with other investment decisions. But with courage to take new management development initiatives, management will be re-invigorated and the organisations cultural will be transformed and energised - management development does pay!!